Ship drive-coupling mechanism



March 21, 1933. Q HEGEMANN 1,902,701

SHIP DRIVE COUPLING MECHANISM Filed April 8, 19:50

'In ventor @mW y QZZtorneys helical-band coupling ratenta Mar.'21, 1933 UhlITED STATES PATENT OFFICE o'r'ro Brown, or

vummn A. a,

a lication i In operating large coupling mechanisms withhelical-bandfriction couplings, and more particularly those of'ships reversing gear, 1t has been foundthat the engagement of the member to be driven does not take place sut- -ficiently smoothly, butrather suddenly, this ening the helical-band by a brake-disc, which I together with its clutch disc constituted a socalled' auxiliary coupling. This auxiliary means, however, has not. had the desired result, so that in very many cases with more sensitive drives the further use of such-helical-band couplings with auxiliary couplings had to be discontinued. follow these attempts and researches because the brake-disc could not operate upon the sensitive helical-bandin any other way than the clutch-lever formerly used. .The' helicalband acts just like the rope on a ships capstan. It quickly winds up onthe barrel even with slight tension at the free end, whereby it then straightway carries with it the member to be driven. Thus it is immaterial whether this pull on the free end isexerted by a clutchlever, by a brake-disc or by any other member acting as a pulling, braking or the like member. I

Furthermore the helical-band coupling, operating like a capstan, has the great disadvantage, as compared with other direct-acting friction-couplings, destroyed by prolonged slip, since in this case the steel band, which is under very great surface pressure upon the chilled'cast barrel,

becomes very hot, evegif most efliciently lubricated,and conseque tly distorts and seizes, so that the couplingcan no longer be thrown out of gear Nearly all the damage aris- 45 ing in working with helical-band couplings can be traced either to the above mentioned frequently impulsive engagement of the (owing to which even breakage of strong members of the machine may occur) or to the natural consequence of a prolongedslip of the coupling owing to of adjustment hand, ship-propulsion Success could not v of being inevitably DORTMUND, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO DOBTMUNDE'B 0F DORTMUND, GERMANY,

A conronajrroiv or GERMANY SHIP DRIVE-COUPLING ,MEGHANISM filed April 8 1930, Serial No. 442,699, and in Germany J'une 24,1929.

insu'flicient clutch pressure, such as always.

occurs, if in the case of mechanicalclutch mechanisms or those limited by notches or the like, after the friction surfaces have worn to some extent ithas become im ossible at the right time, an moreover. the more readily if the coupling is thrown into gear under-light'load, and subsequently after a short time the torque increases up to full load, as is the case for example in ship-propulsion. But on the other demands the possi-. bility of proceeding at times with a slipping coupling, for example when manoeuvring or towing in restricted places for the prevention of breaking of the propeller, and especially when using the mechanism in tugsand fish-carriers, when it must comeinto gear quite slowly. An eflicient in shallow waters helical-band coupling, especially for ship reversing gear, which surely preventsslipplng of the coupling when thrown into gear,

has not yet been devised. Similarly, quite as desir le as the foregoing isaslipring release in combination therewith, as is'a matter 'of course with all friction couplings coming into consideration.

All deficiencies in'the working of helicalband c'ouplingsare-removed by my presentinvention. The inevitableshock on engaging cally removed by the arrangement of an auxs which itself takes u the acceleration of; the

stationary masses to. e driven, and which has to transmit a quite considerable torque when is very considerably moderated and practithe helical-band coupling isthrown in, the

operation of which itself causes the slowly lncreasmg engaging'pressure on the helicalband required for the'desired-torqlue. 11f1 arig mg s on slipping of the helical-band coup occur during WorkingIfTth-is mechanism at once c'omes' automatically into operation' The slipring with the hand lever is freed from load. In the construction of the coupling mechanism as a reversing gear the intermediatepinions are carried in roller or I ball bearings provided withcontinuous lubricat1on,by which forced lubrication'means for these inaccessi means the usual'oil-bath' or tical example 0 tion with the prime move-r (not shown), and

a in the drawing. The pinion (.1 is

is the driven shaft, which in ship propulsion connects with the shaft carryin the propeller. As regards the position 0 the propeller on the ship,

prime mover and of the the direction towards the right will be termed ahead and that towards the left ,astern.

The" hand-lever H serves for the control of the coupling and when said lever is drawn to the position marked stop, the gear is thrown out of action. With the lever in this position the shaft A, through a pinion B eyed thereon. drives a pair of long pinions C which are journalled in the casing D at diametrically opposite positions, but-only the right hand one of which shows in the drawing, as the left hand oneis located behind C These pinions C by means of the part 0' projecting beyond the lpinion B to the left of the gearing are in mes with a pair of long pinions C and one of which is shown in axial section keyed on a shaft 0 whose ends are carried in ball or roller bearings d in the casing, and the bearings for the pinions G which are not shown in the drawing, are arranged similarly. The left-hand halves of the pinions C mesh with a sun-wheel B keyed on the shaft G. When the coupling is declutched, it happens in the own way that by means of this sun and planet gear B C B the casin D rotates at half the speed of the shaft since the shaft G to be driven and therefore also the.

pinion B are at rest.

L The coupling casing E is rigidly connected with the casing D, and the helical band F is attached to its right-hand surface. These two members therefore also rotate when the cou-z pling is declutched, 'at half the speed of the G prime mover and the helical band envelopes the chilled iron barrel N which is keyed on the shaft G with some clearance.

- If the gear is to be 'moved'from the position of rest to ahead, the hand-lever H 'is moved to the right, i. e. forward in this case of a ships coupling. It carries with it y means of pins k in the known way anengaging sleeve 0 which is provided at its front end withan inclined surface 0, and is slidable on the shaft G by means of slot and feather attachment. A frictiondisc J similarly slidable by means of slot and feather their free en means the adjustable shorter ends similarly j ournalled in the casing D,

provided with a friction pad k pressed against a surface on the rear wall of is attached to the shaft to be driven. This dlsc can be displaced by cranked levers H pivoted on a ring P keyed on the shaft. These lever arms H and other shorter levers H are in fact arranged in pairs in such a waiy that they are balanced against each other. t is only for the sake of clearness that in the drawing one lever H is shown as located diametrically opposite to a lever H On the displacement of the hand lver H in the first place, the lon er levers H rest by rollers at s upon" the inclined surface 0 and slide up on it. By this of said cranked levers (H are pressed against the friction disc- J to with the friction of the sleeve move. the latter together provided thereon, against the left-hand surface of the rotating per cent of the output of As soonas the shaft G is in thus an acceleraton of the members D, E, F hitherto rotating at half-speed is brought about. a

If the hand-lever H be moved further in the ahead direction, the throw-in sleeve 0 now also operates the shorter cranked levers H and presses their against a brake disc K which is rotatable and slidable on the shaft G, said brake-disc being and being the casing. E. This casing E, which-as stated above, now rotates more quickly than before, causes a rotation of the disc K. On its inner periphery at K. the disc is provided with helically shaped continuous cam surfaces or adjustable shorter ends 4 teeth and with these teeth there meshes another set of teeth on a disc L, which is arranged slidably'but unrotatably on the shaft On'the rotation of the disc K, the cams or teeth sliding on each other at K exert an axial thrust upon the disc L. By this means a known and above-mentioned auxiliary coupling for the helical band F is brought into operation. In ,the example. illustrated this consists of a brake-disc M located on the free end of the spring, against which works a friction pad on the periphery of the disc L on its being displaced axially. Finally by the displacement of the disc L on the disc M rotating at higher speed a braking action.

is exerted on the free end and by this 'shaft G, so that degree .owing to any circumstance.

7 members could as well be used with resultant similar obviously drawn up smoothly and easily. It coils itself'as in a capstan around the barrel N rotating more slow] with the v the barrel toget er with the shaft G is brought up to the full speed of the prime mover without appreciable shock. The clutchingaction 6f the disc K increases until a relative speed is established between said. disc and thewasing E and until the clutching pressure reaches the normal maximum when both members rotate at the same s eed, i. e. when the helical band coupling as fully gripped. The clutching action increases further automatically in the event that the of the helical band coupling 'in the least By this means further slipping is avoided under all circumstances. I

A considerable part of the clutch pressure,

driven part N lags behind the driving part is derived-in the way described from the power of the prime moveritself. v v

In place of the cam surfaces or teeth at K causingthe axial displacement between the K and L, a high-pitched thread action between the two members, as will be obvious to any one skilled in the art. I

The throwing-in of the coupling takes place without depending upon the dexterity of the operator of hand-lever H. The occurrences described take place perforce in every case; even on the quickest throwing-in of the gear,

the acceleration ,of the masses connected with v the shaft to be driven is at first taken up by the slip coupling between J and E.

For oing astern from t e stop position towards the left or backwards. Thereby the lever acts by means of a draw-bar Q and aswinging arm R to tighten a brake-band T, which surrounds the casing E rotating unloa ded. The casing 1s thus brought gradually to rest. The gear casing D is thus also braked, and through the ginions journalled in this casing the pinion 2 isdriven by the inionB through the intermediate inions 1 and G (which are'now prevented rom-rotating) inthe opposite direction to the direction of rotation of the shaft A, at the full speedgof the prime mover.-

A shockless coupling is secured by the braking in equal measure as with the slip coupling forgoing ahead.

Since the slip ring- S, uponwhich the pins hof the hand-lever act, is always unloaded,

.the hand-lever requires no special. stop in any position.

My invention is not limited to the particu-' lar construction illustrated and described of the main coupling and slip coupling, modificatidns may be introduced without exceeding the scope of my invention.

Having no'w particularly described bring the helical the lever H is movedment, and means for "but" ascertained the nature of my saidinvention and inwhat manner the same'is to be performed I declare that what I claim is 1. In a ships reversing gear mechanism embodying a-helicaleband couplin and a rotatin casmg, a pair of slip-clutc elements mova le separately into frictional drive con- ,tact with the casing and a plate-member with which one of the same in so-moving engages; said plate-member being in turn actable on the helical-band part of the coupling and actuatedby said oneof the slip-clutch elements to bring the same into operation or engagement after its rotative part has first been set in motion.

2. A clutch device embodying a housing rotatable by a driving shaft, a driven shaft 'rotatably supported in. the housing and a' coupling between said driving and driven shafts, comprising a helical-band carried by said housin a drum on the driven shaft, a plurality o sli -clutch elements slidable on' the driven sha into frictional contact with said housing and one of said elements being means for sliding said cliftch elements into contact with said housing.

3.-A clutch device embodying a housing rota-table by a driving shaft, a driven shaft rotatably supported in the housing and acoupling between said driving and driv n shafts,

comprising a helical-band carrie by said drum on the driven shaft, a sliphousing, a clutch element slidably keyed on the driven shaft for movement into frictional contact with said housing, a second slip-clutch ele- -ment loosely slidable on. said shaft for move ment likewise into frictional contact with sa1d housing, a plate-member also slidably keyed on said shaft with which the secondnamed clutch element in so moving engages with said drum first set .into motion by the clutch elements, and

with a forwarding movement, a surface on the helical-bandagainst which said plate member upon engagement frictionally bears so as to draw the same engageably around said drum after the latter has first been set into motion by the first-named clutch .ele-

moving said clutch ele ments into and out of engagement with said housing.

4. A clutch device embodying'a housing rotatable by a driving shaft, a driven sha rotatably supported in the housing and a coupling between said driving and driven shafts, comprising ahelical-band carried by said housing, a drum on the driven shaft, a clutch element slidably keyed on the driven shaft I for movement into a slipping frictional contact with said housing so as to thereby impart rotation to said shaft at a speed less than the housing, and clutching meansbetween said housing and the helical-band for thereafter drawing the latter into binding engagement around said drum.

5. A clutch device embodying a housing rotatable by a driving shaft, a driven shaft rotatably supported in the housing and a coupling between said driving and driven shafts, comprising a helical band carried by said housing, a drum on .the driven shaft,- a clutch element slidably keyed on the driven shaft for movement into a slipping frictional contact with said housing so as to thereby impart rotationto said shaft at a speed less than the housing, and clutching means between said housing and shaft. and between said shaft and helical-band for bringing the latter into operation only after the shaft has been set in motion at a gradually incre s' g speed less than the speed of said housin 6. A clutch device embodying a housing rotatable by a driving shaft, a driven shaft rotatably supported in the housing and a'coupling between said driving and driven shafts, comprising a helical-band carried by said housing, a drum on the driven shaft, a clutch element slidably keyed on the driven shaft '30 for movement into a slipping frictional contact with said housing so as to thereby impart rotation to said shaft at a speed" less than the housing; a'second clutch element loosely slidable on said shaft for movement likewise into a slipping frictional contact with said housing, a plate-member slidably keyed on said shaft with which the [secondnamed clutch element in so movingengages with a forwarding movement simultaneously accelerating the shafts speed, a surface on one endof the helical-band against which said plate-member upon engagement with 'forwarded movement frictionally bears so as to actuate the same bindingly around said drum after the latter has been set in motion at it gradually increasing speed less than the speed of the housing, andmeans for moving said clutch elements into and out of engage- V ment with said housing.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

OTTO HEGEMANN. 

